


Alters

by leeve_me_alone



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Incredible Hulk (2008), The Incredible Hulk (Comics)
Genre: 1980s psychology, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst, Dissociative Identity Disorder, Domestic Violence, Hurt, Hurt No Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Mental Illness, Minor Character Death, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, and there are many more alters, bruce banner canonically has DID, hulk canonically loves bambi, hulk is an alter, i mean i really did try, if you can call rebecca's death minor...., messy psychology
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-03
Updated: 2019-06-03
Packaged: 2020-04-07 03:20:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19076425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leeve_me_alone/pseuds/leeve_me_alone
Summary: An exploration into Bruce's alters.(shitty summary, slightly less shitty story, you get the drift)





	Alters

“Bruce--”

“NO! LEAVE HULK ALONE!”

“Bruce, please--”

An angry scream rang out into the small cold room. Around the two lay a disaster, looking as if a tornado of pain and anger had came through and left as soon as the older woman had barged into the bathroom. But all the destruction had stemmed from the twelve year old boy in front of her. She could barely recognize her nephew behind the anger in his eyes and the blood on his knuckles. 

“Bruce, I need to get the glass out of your hand, darling, please--”

Another guttural yell. Susan sighed in frustration, just thankful that her daughter was out with her friends for the night.

“NO BRUCE! NO BRUCE! ONLY HULK!”

“Okay… Hulk. Can you just calm down for me, just for a moment, sweetheart?”

“HULK NOT SWEET! HULK STRONG!” he shouted, fists tightening at his sides.

Susan kneeled down, careful to avoid the bits of broken mirror glaring up at her. “Yes, very strong. I know you are. But sometimes, we don’t have to be strong.”

The boy’s eyes narrowed and for only one moment, Susan thought that the near teen was about to strike her. Instead he pouted and slapped his own forehead with the butt of his hands twice, eliciting a pang of worry and sadness from the older woman, before grumbling.

“Hulk ALWAYS Strong. Hulk Strongest Ever.”

“I bet you are, but you don’t have to be right now.”

“GOTTA BE STRONG!”

“Why?”

That seemed to confuse him for a moment, breaking through the anger just for a moment. The boy paused before looking away, unable to meet Susan’s gaze.

“Because Strong.”

“Why do you have to be strong, Bru--Hulk?” She caught herself.

“Hulk Strong.”

Susan took a breath in, trying to think of a game plan to get her nephew calmed down enough to get the glass embedded in his skin out and out of the ruined bathroom. 

“Well, Hulk can’t be strong when he’s hurt right?”

“NOTHING HURT HULK. NOT EVEN BAD MAN.”

That struck her. “Bad man? Which bad man, hun? Your father?”

“BAD MAN ONLY HURT STUPID TINY BOY, NOT HULK.”

Silence, a breath, then a nod of understanding. 

“Do you remember that tiny boy?” She asked.

“Stupid Bruce. Don’t Like Him. Him Stupid,” he pouted.

“That’s not very nice to say about anyone, Hulk, even people we don’t like.”

“HULK SAY WHATEVER HE WANT. HULK STRONG.”

Susan licked his lips, biting back her frustration, and held out her hands. “I know you’re strong, very strong, but can you look at your hands for me? They’re hurt.”

“Ow?”

“Yeah, ow. I can fix it and you can be even stronger,” Susan tried. 

“Stronger? Hulk Be Stronger?” He asked eyes wide with shock and disbelief.

“Yep, I just have to get all the bad stuff out of your hand and you can be even stronger.”

The pre-teen looked at his bloodied hands with a scowl before thrusting them into Susan’s waiting grasp. Reaching into the nearby first aid kit that used to be under the sink but now was close to the door, the aunt grabbed a pair of tweezers, gently tugging out a small piece of glass. The boy screamed, pulling away and shoving her away. 

“BAD LADY! BAD LADY HURT HULK!”

“Shh… It’s okay, I know, it hurts. But it’ll make you stronger, I promise.”

It took a bit of coaxing, but slowly each piece of glass was carefully taken out of his skin, Susan feeling thankful that the boy had worn shoes before this episode. Wrapping the sensitive skin with bandages and “a kiss to make it heal faster with love”, the job was done and Susan was much happier now that that was done. 

“Do you want to watch a movie?”

The boy was silent, pouting still as he crossed his arms. “Bambi.”

“You want to watch Bambi, Bruce?” She asked, hopeful that whatever this episode had been was finally over. 

“Hulk Want Bambi.”

A disappointed sigh then a sad smile. “Okay, Hulk can watch Bambi while Auntie cleans up.”

******************

“I just don’t know what to do, Mary. Today was so terrifying. I’m just thanking god that Jennifer wasn’t here to see it--No, you didn’t see it. It was like… Like he was possessed by something. Like something or someone had taken over him. The bathroom was destroyed!” 

Whispered voices filled the kitchen as Susan watched her nephew on the couch, eyes barely open and mouth dropped in what seemed to be exhaustion, staring at the animated deer on screen. The event in the bathroom, while she had been able to power through it without showing the fear she had felt at the time, had truly shaken her to her core. As soon as “Hulk” had been settled down with his movie, Susan had run to the phone to call her best friend, needing advice.

“This is the second time something like this has happened. Remember when I told you about his books being torn to shreds? When we punished him he’d cried and said that something else had done it. It’s must have been this Hulk character, right? … I… I know, I thought it was an imaginary friend too at first but this… he believed he was this Hulk thing, truly believed in it. I think… I think he might be insane.” A pause as she listened. “You’re right. I need to bring him in to see a doctor. I know Victor doesn’t-- Oh, really? Oh, thank you so much, Mary. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Susan smiled in relief, setting up a date and saying her goodbyes before hanging up the phone, pushing her hair back into order. She loved her nephew, more than anything in the world. Especially since so much pain had been brought to his short life already. She would do almost anything for him. But remembering back into that bathroom, seeing that fire in his eyes… Susan let out a shaky breath. As much as she loved Bruce, there was nothing she wouldn’t do to protect her daughter and herself, even if that meant possibly institutionalizing him for their safety. A faint voice from the living room roused her from her thoughts.

“Auntie? Why are my hands all bandaged up?”

**Author's Note:**

> okay, shitty first chapter done! 
> 
> please be nice to me. i am trying to research my best into DID and psychology for this fic but i am not smart and will probably mess up. just tell me and i promise to fix it.


End file.
